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1966 es-345... Refin?

Hey all, I'm potentially going to buy a 1966 ES-345 from a seller on ebay. The guitar looks great, nice and worn in. The only detail that's throwing me off is the presence of a bit of red paint inside one of the f-holes... Do any of the experts have an opinion on this? Could it be a sign of a refin? Thanks!

Re: 1966 es-345... Refin?

Why is the binding white around the back of the body while it is nicely yellowed everywhere else??? I could expect some white areas where the binding was contacted during playing....but it is white all the way around the body. Odd looking to my eye.
Not much money for it, though.

"As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins." Albert Schweitzer

Re: 1966 es-345... Refin?

Re: 1966 es-345... Refin?

Re: those 'red spots'..... Imho, that is not indicative of a refin. I would hazard a guess that someone has had the electronics out of the guitar and did some touch up where the red was blemished in the f-holes....and a few drops of the touch up paint ended up inside the body???? That guess could be wrong....but what I see of the cherry red looks good to me...much like my '66...just not as clean.

"As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins." Albert Schweitzer

Re: 1966 es-345... Refin?

Originally Posted by DEVILBAT

I have plenty of older Gibson guitars with whiter binding up and down the fretboard that doesn't turn yellow until it gets into the higher registers.

And that is a function of wearing by contact of the clear lacquer, which is what yellows. I am accustomed to wear points showing whiter than the areas that do not get the contact. IF I were interested in that guitar, I would have to have a shot of the back from another angle....and the binding might show to be as yellow as the rest of the binding that we see. IF it is white all the way around the back in a uniform manner, that is odd..

"As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins." Albert Schweitzer

Re: 1966 es-345... Refin?

LPunbound, that is a 6 digit number there. IT is good for '66, '69, and a few years in the '70's. My '66 is the same way. IF the seller had given the nut width; the knobs and the orange label place it as a '66 with no other details needed, IIRC.

"As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins." Albert Schweitzer

Re: 1966 es-345... Refin?

Originally Posted by OKGuitar

Finish looks right but I'd ask for a photo of the neck pickup rout so you can inspect the neck tenon. That heel looks mighty big.

OKGuitar, when I first saw that heel, something looked a bit strange. I just pullled my '66 ES-345 out....#8083xx. This picture in this thread makes things look big. the pic blows things way up, but the proportions of that peg vis-a-vis the measurements of that heel from the joint to the edge of the carve match mine...roughly 1.5 times the width of the peg. NOtice also that the picture stretches things top to bottom. That peg looks oval shaped instead of round. Considering this, I don't think there is a problem there.

"As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins." Albert Schweitzer

Re: 1966 es-345... Refin?

Well, she finally arrived... here she is with her elder sibling 64 330 (sorry for the crappy pic)... She's all original save for the tuners and bridge, but the bridge ended up being an ABR-1 with brass saddles so thats ok! I couldn't help myself from checking under the pu covers... the neck is a purple wire double black lead patent sticker and the bridge is an orange wire black and white lead patent sticker! It sounds amazing and is the first varitone guitar I've owned. I was debating doing the 335 conversion but I don't think I'm gonna touch a thing. Skinny neck as I predicted, but still very playable. I'm a happy camper.